If you’re one of the multi-billionaires who could spare half a million dollars for private jet flight, there’s an app just for you. A program made for the privileged few, PrivateFly is a phone app that lets travellers choose from an array of private jet charters. They can compare the prices, locate the nearest private jet airport, book at short notice and view photos of available aircrafts. PrivateFly has over 7000 registered aircraft worldwide which can all be booked through the app. People thought that PrivateFly was delusional when the app was launched 2 years ago. Everyone presumed that rich people do not transact exorbitant bookings through an app. But PrivateFly had the last laugh when a family from Saudi Arabia used the app to hire a $500,000 jet service to fly them to Europe.
Even people working for the jet charter company were surprised about the booking. The family booked through an iPhone to book the flight, too. This could be a start of a stream of wealthy clients using smartphone apps to book expensive services such as charting a private jet. Using mobile apps to book for flights with an airline is already becoming a common practice among the average working class. It seems that the wealthy are catching on.
PrivateFly expects their number of clients to soar over the next year. Its clients in the past include businessmen who were stranded in airports due to delays and cancellations by commercial airlines. PrivateFly’s director of marketing, Carol Cork, said booking for a private jet through the app has not been uncommon in the past months but the biggest sale so far was the recent chartered plane by the Middle East client. PrivateFly CEO and co-founder, Adam Twidell, commented, “The $500,000 flight was a particularly significant milestone because it proves that confidence in app technology has soared to the extent that such a luxury purchase is being made this way.”
Twidell told reporters that many people in the flying business said that private jet customers wouldn’t book online and that he is delighted to be proving the experts wrong. Twidell also said that six percent of the company’s sales are transacted through apps and the figure slowly increasing. There had been 100,000 downloads since the app’s launch and it is making its way through a new breed of jet customers.